Monday, 26 March 2012

OLD BUCKS BECOME YOUNG STAGS: KELSALL, WOOD, HUTTON

Wood, Hutton, Kelsall [photo: Carla Munday]

At the back end of last month it was my great pleasure to
interview three bright-eyed young cricketers in their first year as full-time
professionals, having successfully graduated from the NottsAcademy
at the end of last season, the only three to do so. The trio also represented
England Under 19s in a series against South
Africa in late summer and in Bangladesh January just gone. They
are now out in Australia,
playing a quadrangular tournament against the hosts, India
and New Zealand
as preparation for the World Cup there in August this year.

Over the course of an hour-and-a-half in the Larwood and
Voce, I asked Sam Wood, Brett Hutton (both of Farnsfield CC, near Mansfield) and
Sam Kelsall (who played under my captaincy at Moddershall in 2008) about their
journey as players so far; about what the young cricketer hopes to take from
the game in 2012, a historically unprecedented era dominated by the financial
and technical implications of Twenty20; and what their specific, individual
targets and aspirations were – for this summer, for the duration of their
contracts, for 5 years’ time, 10 years’ time, and for the end of their careers.

The full-length interview can be found in the next issue of
SPIN magazine, out this week (and on sale at WH Smith),* but I also tacked on another mini-interview for LeftLion, the Nottingham magazine and
website of which I’m Sports Editor – frivolous questions about their new
colleagues in the senior squad and the city they now call home – which can be
found on the LeftLion website.

It’s all too easy for the modern cricketer to be media
trained into blandness and/or defensiveness, but I was given lots of
interesting and considered responses. I wish the three of them well for the
summer.

* SPIN can also be ordered from Kim Jones: countycricketkj[at]gmail[dot]com